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The Impact of Specific Social Factors on Changes in Education in Serbia CEPS Journal 11 (2021) 2, S

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The Impact of Specific Social Factors on Changes in Education in Serbia CEPS Journal 11 (2021) 2, S The impact of specific social factors on changes in education in Serbia CEPS Journal 11 (2021) 2, S. 59-76 Empfohlene Zitierung/ Suggested Citation: CEPS Journal 11 (2021) 2, S. 59-76 - URN: urn:nbn:de:0111-pedocs-227852 - DOI: 10.25656/01:22785 http://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0111-pedocs-227852 http://dx.doi.org/10.25656/01:22785 in Kooperation mit / in cooperation with: http://www.pef.uni-lj.si Nutzungsbedingungen Terms of use Gewährt wird ein nicht exklusives, nicht übertragbares, We grant a non-exclusive, non-transferable, individual and limited persönliches und beschränktes Recht auf Nutzung dieses right to using this document. Dokuments. Dieses Dokument ist ausschließlich für den This document is solely intended for your personal, non-commercial persönlichen, nicht-kommerziellen Gebrauch bestimmt. Die use. 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Mit der Verwendung dieses Dokuments erkennen Sie die By using this particular document, you accept the above-stated Nutzungsbedingungen an. conditions of use. Kontakt / Contact: peDOCS DIPF | Leibniz-Institut für Bildungsforschung und Bildungsinformation Informationszentrum (IZ) Bildung E-Mail: [email protected] Internet: www.pedocs.de c e p s Journal | Vol.11 | No2 | Year 2021 59 doi: 10.26529/cepsj.1152 The Impact of Specific Social Factors on Changes in Education in Serbia Ana Pešikan*1 and Ivan Ivić2 • The political and economic changes that followed the adoption of the Strategy for the Development of Education in Serbia 2020 essentially be- trayed the basic ideas and intentions of the strategy, creating a system- atic threat to education and its role in the development of Serbia. This created an almost experimental situation for analysing the impact of po- litical and social factors on changes in education. In the sphere of poli- tics, new trends have emerged (centralisation of power; marginalisation of democratic institutions; encouraging foreign investment in compa- nies with a low technological level, etc.) that strongly influenced changes (‘reforms’) in education (great centralisation in education, the strong in- fluence of politics on education, imposing of some lower-level forms of education, reducing professional autonomy, etc.). The basic mechanism of transferring the general policy to education is changing the role of the most important national institutions in defining and implementing education policy: the National Education Council, the National Council for Vocational and Adult Education, the National Council for Higher Education, and the National Accreditation Body. The adoption of new education laws (2017) radically changed their status and competencies, resulting in a reduction of their independence and professionalism and strengthening the role of the ministry, through which the influence of the ruling political regime is transferred. Also, the role of the Chamber of Commerce in education has been strengthened. Such a system endan- gers the autonomy of educational institutions and teachers, as well as the quality of education. Consequently, these changes have a clear impact on the country’s development and its international position. Keywords: education policy, social change, political influence on education 1 *Corresponding Author. Department of Psychology, University of Belgrade, Serbia; [email protected]. 2 Department of Psychology, University of Belgrade, Serbia. 60 the impact of specific social factors on changes in education in serbia Vpliv posebnih družbenih dejavnikov na spremembe v izobraževanju v Srbiji Ana Pešikan in Ivan Ivić • Politične in gospodarske spremembe, ki so sledile sprejetju Strategije razvoja šolstva v Srbiji 2020, so pravzaprav izdale osnovne ideje in na- mene te strategije ter s tem ustvarile sistemsko grožnjo izobraževanju in njegovi vlogi pri razvoju Srbije. To je proizvedlo skoraj eksperimentalni položaj za analizo vpliva političnih in družbenih dejavnikov na spre- membe v izobraževanju. Na političnem področju so nastali novi trendi (centralizacija oblasti, marginalizacija demokratičnih institucij, spodbu- janje tujih naložb v podjetja z nizko stopnjo tehnološkega razvoja itn.), ki so močno vplivali na spremembe ('reforme') v izobraževanju (velika centralizacija izobraževanja, močen vpliv politike na izobraževanje, vsi- ljevanje nekaterih nižjih stopenj izobraževanja, zmanjševanje strokovne avtonomije itn.). Osnovni mehanizem prenosa splošne politike v izo- braževanje je spreminjanje vloge najpomembnejših državnih institucij pri določanju in izvajanju izobraževalne politike, tj. Državnega sveta za izobraževanje Republike Srbije, Državnega sveta za poklicno izobraže- vanje in izobraževanje odraslih, Državnega sveta za visoko šolstvo in Akreditacijskega telesa Republike Srbije. Sprejetje novih zakonov o šol- stvu (2017) je korenito spremenilo njihov status in pristojnost. Posle- dica sprememb pa je zmanjšanje njihove samostojnosti in strokovnosti s sočasno krepitvijo vloge ministrstva, prek katerega se prenaša vpliv vladajočega političnega režima na šolstvo. Prav tako se je okrepila vloga gospodarske zbornice v izobraževanju. Tak sistem pa ogroža avtonomijo izobraževalnih ustanov in učiteljev pa tudi kakovost izobraževanja. Po- sledično imajo te spremembe jasen vpliv na razvoj države in njen med- narodni položaj. Ključne besede: izobraževalna politika, družbena sprememba, vpliv politike na izobraževanje c e p s Journal | Vol.11 | No2 | Year 2021 61 Introduction The literature asserts that the state context and politics are significant influences on the course of education and play an important role in shaping education policy, including the translation of policy into practice (Cooper et al., 2008; Fuhrman, 1989; Youdell, 2010). Analysts have discerned the importance of the political context, defined as the distribution of power and the structure and function of various groups, exerting a key influence on the state choice of mandates, inducements, or other strategies to influence local behaviour (Fuhr- man, 1989). The relationship between education and social change is profound- ly reciprocal. Social and political changes cause changes in education because it is deeply socio-culturally conditioned; conversely, quality education can be an agent of change in the socio-economic development of a society. People, banded in communities of practice, intentionally or unintentionally, adopt new socio-cultural realities and attempt to realise them. In such a way, these changes in practice enable changes in the lives of individuals (and their identity) and the course of social change (Vygotsky, 1980). The present work is, unfortunately, a sad story about the negative effects of new trends in the ruling politics on the quality of education in Serbia, and thus on the country’s chances for future development. Contentious political moves in education in Serbia In our previous work (Ivić & Pešikan, 2012), we presented relevant re- form waves in Serbia after the country’s major political changes in the year 2000, finishing the review with the adoption of the Strategy of Education De- velopment in Serbia to 2020 (SEDS, 2012). This paper aims to show how educa- tion has been influenced by general policy in the country since 2012, which has deviated from SEDS and well-established and developed trajectories of educa- tion development in Serbia. We will not systematically present the changes that have occurred in education in the country but will focus on the analysis of the basic mechanism of transferring political influence to education, on the major changes that this has brought to education and the consequent implications of these changes on (reducing) chances for the country’s development. The 2012 elections brought a coalition of the Serbian Progression Party (a national-conservative and right-wing populist) and the Socialist Party of Serbia (a left-wing nationalist and populist political party) to power. The rul- ing coalition was dominant in the National Assembly of the Republic of Ser- bia when the SEDS was adopted. Since 2012, in the sphere of politics, massive 62 the impact of specific social factors on changes in education in serbia changes have been made in relation to the development of the country and its democracy: centralisation of power; marginalisation of democratic institutions and practice; complete control of media; instead of investment in research and development (as emphasised in the SEDS and the action plan for its implemen- tation) the main strategy is encouraging foreign investment in companies with a low technological level; providing economic incentives to foreign ICT com- panies while killing domestic capacities and encouraging a
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